Starr Treks: alaska trip Thursday 6/4/15 Victoria BC

Starr Treks Thursday 6/4/15 Victoria BC

We woke up early, but nothing opens early here. We drove 2-3 miles and parked near the Parliament building downtown around 9 AM. There was a self guided tour that gave the history of the building. In 1859, buildings were constructed on this sir to govern Vancouver Island. There were a lot of little buildings called “Birdcages”. BC became a province of Canada in 1871. In 1892, an Englishman Francis Rattenbury was chosen as the architect of the current building. We got to see the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubillee Window (1897) & the Golden Jubilee Window for Queen Elizabeth (2002). In the center is a circular rotunda inhabited by a canoe right now. We got to look into the room where the Legislative Assembly meets. They had photos of the premiers of Canada— the only one I was familiar with was Pierre Trudeau. The rotunda ceiling had murals of fisherman, lumber workers, and farmers.

We walked next door to the Royal BC Museum. School does not get out till June 25 here, so unfortunately there were a lot of school groups there. We decided to start on the top floor, missing out on some of the kids. There were a lot of historical exhibits on the top floor with some beautiful areas of old hotels, old towns, history of the province, coming of Wm Vancouver (he was on ships with Captain Cook). It discussed the history of fur traders, gold rush, timber industrial, Canadian Pacific railroad. It really was well done — made me realize how little I knew of Canadian history.

We walked along the harbor to eat lunch at Red Fish Blue Fish. There was a long line of people at 12:30. This “restaurant” is actually a storage container where you order at the counter and just eat outside at some stools and counter tops along the harbor. We were in line about 25 minutes(!). We shared a 12 oz “cup” of chowder— it was really good— coconut milk base with fish, onions, etc. They called out your name when the main course was ready— we had fish (salmon) and chips — it really was very good! By this time, the clouds were gone and it was a sunny blue sky, in the 70’s— a beautiful day.

After lunch, I talked Larry into walking thru some alley ways into China town, then walked about 45 minutes to the Craigdarroch Castle (most of this was uphill, so Larry was not the happiest camper). It really was a nice walk since the weather was so lovely. We watched a 30 minute film before we did the self guided tour. It was built in by Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish immigrant who made a fortune from Vancouver Island coal. He built the house as a symbol of his success, but sadly died at age 62 just before construction was done. His widow, Joan, moved in in 1890. She had 2 sons that she did not get along with, and 8 daughters. There is a lot of interior oak panelling and many stained glass windowsill. When Joan died, she left her estate to 5 surviving daughters and all the contents were sold in an auction and a lottery. The guy who won the lottery lost rights to the castle, and it became a public building in 1919— a military hospital, mainly for veterans with spinal cord injuries. In 1921 it was taken over by Victoria College. In 1946, it was taken over by the Victoria school board. In1968 it became a music conservatory with 30 pianos. In 1979, it was taken over by the city to be restored. The castle is 4 1/2 stories tall, with a beautiful view from the tower room.

After this, we walked back downtown (much easier going downhill) to Button and Boutique Needlework — I browsed while Larry sat. We then walked to Fisherman’s Wharf about a mile— I thought we might eat down there, but everything was counter restaurants with outdoor picnic tables. The most interesting thing at the Wharf were the “float homes”— brightly covered homes that were essentially permanent houseboats. I stopped to browse in one little shop — the proprietor had a strong French accent — she told me that people actually lived full time in the cute little houseboats. I asked about restaurants nearby, and she gave me the recommendation of Il Covar, and Italian restaurant. We stopped there — it is off the beaten path, so we got in without a reservation. We asked for an outdoor table and it was just lovely outside. Each chair had a little blanket on it, so I guess it can get chilly out there some nights. Larry had a spaghetti that had shrimp, clams, mussels, and calamari, and I had the salmon special with vegetables (a lot of carrots, broccoli, onion, potatoes) and pesto sauce— both were very good. We had a carafe of red house wine that was also good — and it mellowed Larry out since he was getting crabby with walking so much — my phone tells me we walked 8 miles today!!

Victoria has been fun. We go back on the ferry tomorrow morning and are debating whether to go to Vancouver or not— we feel like we are not really on our Alaska journey yet! So we’ll see what we decide in the next day or 2.